A photo taken with a cell phone on Feb. 17, in Geneva shows an Ethiopian Airlines flight en route to Rome which was hijacked and forced to land in Geneva. / Pierre Taillefer, AFP/Getty Images

by Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY

by Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY

A passenger aboard a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines jet says the hijacker threatened to crash the plane if the pilot did not stop trying to get back into the cockpit.

The plane from Ethiopia to Italy was hijacked Monday and diverted to Geneva by its co-pilot, who Swiss officials said locked the pilot out of the cockpit after he went to the bathroom.

Italian news agency ANSA said passenger Francesco Cuomo said the pilot was demanding that the hijacker open the door and tried to break it down. Cuomo, an Italian, said the hijacker got on the loudspeaker and threatened to crash the plane, then the oxygen masks came down.

Once the plane landed in Switzerland the hijacker climbed out of the window of the jet's cockpit using a rope and surrendered to police.

All 202 passengers and crew exited safely from the Boeing 767-300 plane that had taken off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The man "wanted asylum in Switzerland," Geneva International Airport chief executive Robert Deillon told the Associated Press. "That's the motivation of the hijacking."

The hijacking began over Italy and two Italian fighter jets were scrambled to accompany the plane, Deillon said.

Geneva prosecutor Olivier Jornot said Swiss federal authorities were investigating the hijacking and would press charges that could carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Geneva airport was initially closed to other flights, but operations resumed around two hours after the hijacked plane landed. "We hope everything will return to normal in the afternoon," Deillon said.

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